“Yummmm…” Laura hummed as she swirled a yellow bear with a penchant for honey through the air, swooping down to pick up newspapers with its paws.

She was using every available weapon in the war to get her tea party-playing 3-year-old daughter to help get the house in order.

Lila was probably getting too old to be fooled by the Yum farce, but Laura’s date would be arriving in less than 15 minutes, the babysitter was a half hour late, her six-year-old son was running around in only his underwear brandishing a glowing green sword, and she was pretty sure her hair was streaked with mashed potatoes.

And now even Yum was failing her.

Yum was Lila’s favorite toy, and for a long six months about a year back, was the only authority that Lila would obey. Whether or not a new boss had taken his place was debatable.

“Come on sweetie. You know Mommy’s new friend is coming over soon. Even Yummmm wants a clean living room.” Laura nuzzled Yum’s face into Lila’s neck. “See how he helps Mommy?” Laura carried Yum and the newspapers to the recycle bin in the kitchen and returned to find Lila serving more tea to a rather busty plastic doll.

Yeah, like she’d waste calories on that, Laura thought, blowing her too-long bangs off her forehead. Why didn’t I get my haircut?

Hands on hips, Laura surveyed the rest of the mess and caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass protecting last year’s Christmas portrait. The first one without Steven.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” Laura said turning away from the door and grabbing some stray books with Yum’s paws. As she walked to the bookshelf, she looked over at Lila, who was wiping off her play table. Laura flung Yum on the couch next to her nearly naked son and his sword. At least he’s not running around.

“I don’ t mean to be short, and I know this isn’t really part of your job, but could you please tidy this place up, get some clothes on Lyle, and keep Lila occupied all in the next seven minutes? Chris will be here any minute, and well . . .” Laura circled her face with a finger and then flung her hands downward indicating the rest of her.

“Oh! Your big first date. Get in there and get pretty!” Tracy said, turning Laura around and pushing her lightly. “ER! Pretti-ER!” Tracy said while scooping up Yum and a bunch of markers from the coffee table.

“Yum!” Lila cried, finally noticing that her favorite bear was in the room. “I help Yummmm and Tracy!” Lila squeezed both of them to her.

Once in the safety of her own spotless bathroom, Laura ran a brush through her hair (no mashed potatoes!) and flipped it up into a ponytail. It’s only a coffee date, she reasoned. Ponytails are entirely appropriate for cappuccino.

As she flicked on some mascara, the doorbell rang again and scared the wand out of her hand. Luckily she was on the upswing, or things could’ve gotten ugly. As it was, the big black streak on the mirror was the only damage, quickly repaired by a wipe with a damp tissue.

While studying her laughlines in the mirror, she realized that she just sent a smoking hot 22-year-old to the door to meet her first date since the divorce. At least this wasn’t a blind date–Chris already knew what he was getting into from all the impromptu run-ins at the drugstore.

“Your date’s here!” Tracy yelled from the door. Laura swiped on lipstick–or was that gloss–and flipped off the light. Next stop: hopefully a clean living room.

And it was. And her children were clothed and seated on the couch, Yum between them, flipping through an L.L. Bean catalog.

Twenty spot for Tracy.

“Hi,” Laura said, leaning into kiss Chris on the cheek. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“No problem,” Chris said with the smirk that hooked her. “You look great.”

Laura smoothed out her sweater before answering. “Thanks. Have you met my children?”

“Yes, Mommy,” Lila said looking up from a page of chinos. “And I even told him we were talking about him before.”

“Oh yeah?” Laura scanned her memory for what they could’ve possibly said about Chris but came up with nothing. “And what did we say?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

11 Beans of Wisdom to “sunday scribblings: behold the power of yum”

what a yum story! I’ve just gone through your whole blog (my first time of stumbling across it) and I love it. I shall be returning…

KG

02.11.2007

I can feel the energy of this kind of evening — intense, energized, expectant, humorous, full of butterflies in stomachs — through all the wonderful details you include. Many times I smiled as I read this.

I hope Laura had a wonderful time on her date! 😉

megg

02.11.2007

heh heh hee, I loved this piece – very yummy! I also looked back a post or two to get to know you a little and I really liked the me/ not me post. It frightened me a little how many of the things you put on your list that I related to!! (Especially Chocolat – my VERY favorite book!!) I can’t wait to read more of you!

sarala

02.11.2007

Very cute. You catch the kids and their mother so well.

Regina Clare Jane

02.11.2007

Hee hee! I am glad that had a happy ending!

Mardougrrl

02.11.2007

This was such a fun story…and boy, it’s difficult to keep tabs on a three year old’s bosses, isn’t it? Just know that it’s never you!

Loved the anticipation, and would like to know more about these characters.

Hi sorry I am so late but our building has had no electricity for 24 hours – so no computer 🙁I wish I had written something like this – a truly yummy share.By the way I wish I had a Yum Bear to help me clean up – lol.Looking forward to next week’s prompt.Waving at you from New York,Frances

Michelle Fabio is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer living in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy and savoring simplicity one sip at a time.